


A Bud in The Blue Summer Also Fell in Love

by xhiro



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Pre-Slash, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 15:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4185276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xhiro/pseuds/xhiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko and Aomine keep running into each other at the shrine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Black Summer

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally just Ao Haru Ride I'm so sorry I didn't realize till halfway through (The title is literally taken from the opening because I really can't call this AoKuro Ride)
> 
> The first chapter takes place during Teiko third year. Spoilers for the end of the kuroko no basuke anime a bit in the second chapter.

Kuroko hadn't meant to stay as late in the library as he had (he had been spending an increasing amount of time in there recently in lieu of club activities), but when he ducks under the roof of a shrine to escape the rain and sees a familiar crop of blue hair, he thinks he might have made a mistake.

 

Aomine notices him too as his eyes widen in recognition. He's lean and languid the way Kuroko remembers him, slouching in a stance of indifference. Neither of them say anything for a minute, studying each other. It's Kuroko who breaks the silence first.

 

"Aomine-kun."

 

"...Tetsu."

 

It's perhaps the stiffest greeting they've ever exchanged in three years, Kuroko thinks, as he moves to stand a respectable distance from the other, facing away to the rain. He can't stop the way his gut still twists at how natural it feels to be by his side. It doesn't help that it's a little quieter in this space under the roof, making Kuroko's thoughts blare loudly like an alarm. He tries to focus instead on the faint sound of the weather.

 

Kuroko's never particularly liked rain. He watches a large puddle expanding near the base of the steps. He's always had a negative association with it. He remembers a death in the family. It had been raining then, when he was brought as a child to his uncle's funeral. He remembers peering down at the lifeless body of the man who used to toss him in the air as the adults whispered around him. They were concerned about the rain and whether it would affect the body, whether they should have him out for as long as they did. His mother had told him that funerals were for sending people away. They gave them a new name so they couldn't come back. Looking down at his uncle's peaceful resting face and listening to the raindrops around him, Kuroko thought that maybe the rain was here to send him away. Wash the body somewhere far away where they would never see him again.

 

Aomine for his part is quiet. He seems to be refusing to look at Kuroko, instead focusing on the blurry scenery ahead. Wave after wave further obfuscates their surroundings. He has an almost bored expression on his face. But Kuroko knows that Aomine looks his most apathetic when he's at his worst.

 

He always looks to Aomine first. Even now, his eyes are drawn to him, the finely toned muscles on his arms, the dark skin he can see through his wet shirt, his sharp gaze visible even in the murky light-Kuroko wonders if his eyes are still the desperate plea of someone falling, demanding  _look at me._  That sharp gaze turns to him.

 

"What are you staring at, Tetsu?" He reaches over with his long arm, and Kuroko sees it coming from a mile away, holding his breath in anticipation, as those long fingers ruffle his hair clumsily. It's a motion he's lived through a thousand times, but it's off. It's right and wrong just like everything else and Aomine withdraws his hand stiffly. Kuroko wills himself to react naturally.

 

"You have a piece of rice on your face." He gestures at the spot on his own face.

 

"..the hell?" And then Aomine is scrubbing away furiously with one hand because this would not be the first time he's spent an entire day with some sort of food stuck on his face. When his hand comes away clean, he scowls. "Asshole."

 

"Yes," Kuroko smiles which just makes Aomine's frown deepen. It's not exactly perfect, but the air feels a little lighter than before. The silence that settles in this time is less oppressive when they both turn away again.

 

Kuroko looks around at the familiar scenery and realizes that the two of them have been here together before. He runs a hand over the edge of the slightly damp offering box separating the two of them.

 

"Aomine-kun," he starts again. Aomine doesn't turn to look at Kuroko, but he knows he's listening. "Do you remember when we came here at the beginning of the year? With the rest of the team?"

 

It had been in the morning, with the freezing cold biting into their toes. Akashi had, despite the literal hundreds of people who lined up for hours every year, managed to arrange it so that they were the first ones in line. It had been before dawn and Kise complained about his beauty sleep, but all of them had stood on the steps of the shrine together. All seven of them rang in the new year.

 

"What of it?" Aomine's gaze flickers back to Kuroko again and the scowl is a jarring reminder of the present. He contrasts it with the image of Aomine in his memory, with his hands clasped tightly and his eyes closed, mouth moving wordlessly.

 

"Do you remember what you prayed for?"

 

He had taken an unusually long time, his brows furrowed in concentration. Kise had threatened to shove him into the box. What was it that Aomine had wanted so badly? There is a foolish part of Kuroko that wonders for a moment whether he could grant it.

 

Aomine stares for a minute, expression hardening, and then he's looking away. "I don't remember."

 

"I see," Kuroko falters at that. He eyes the ground. "Me either," They both lie. 

 

There was some place in the shrine where their matching wishes, messily scrawled on wooden plaques in boyish handwriting, were hanging. Maybe they could find them, laugh sheepishly at the memory and look at each other with matching lopsided grins-or maybe they were already rotting away from the moisture of the rain. The silence this time feels a little like drowning.

 

The rain is starting to let up Kuroko notices. Then they'll both be on their way. They'll go back to passing by each other occasionally in the hallway and letting the unspoken words burn in their throats. And then they'll graduate and go to different high schools, meet new people, start new lives and their paths will diverge. Kuroko clutches the front of his shirt like a life preserver.

 

"We can't go back to the way we were before, can we?" And he's gasping a little for air, trying to keep afloat.

 

For an instant, there's something real and genuine in Aomine's eyes, and he almost looks like his old self, the way his expression makes him look younger, more innocent, more tragic. It looks like regret.

 

"No," He breathes out, voice heavy, "We can't."

 

The rain sounds a little like mourning.

 


	2. Blue Spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine runs into Kuroko.

 

 

 

 

 

So, yeah. Perhaps Momoi had been right about checking the weather before Aomine ran out to live in the outdoor courts for the day, but a decade of purposefully ignoring her advice was not going to change with a little rain. He's just ruminating on his misfortunes, stooped on the steps of whatever unfortunate building he'd decided to take cover under, when he hears a soft 'ah'.

 

Looking up he sees familiar light blue hair and pale features and responds with his own 'oh'.

 

"Aomine-kun," Kuroko greets him, a little breathless, having probably just run for cover. He's drenched from head to toe and his skin looks flushed through his shirt.

 

"...Tetsu." He responds, a little starstruck, and hit with a strange sense of deja  vu. 

 

They stand there, facing each other, and staring for a full minute wordlessly before they both begin at the same time.

 

"What are you-"

 

"I didn't think-"

 

And then both abruptly stop. 

 

It's pretty embarrassing, Aomine thinks, as they are sixteen and fifteen respectively, and not twelve as this interaction would suggest. And because Aomine is a gentleman, he rubs the back of his neck after only a brief awkward pause and gestures at Kuroko.

 

"Go."

 

Kuroko nods gratefully, "I'm surprised to see you here. It's been a while." Aomine has to reach back into his memory (not that far back, he'll never forget the look of defeat on their previous captain's haggard face, strained beyond belief and the solemn handshake that signified the end of an era) because, yeah, it has been a while.

 

"Yeah," he responds eloquently. "I guess."

 

Kuroko gives him a knowing look, and if it were coming from anyone else, it might have sounded insincere, but he responds, "You should call more." There is a fondness in his eyes.

 

There are a million things that Aomine could say, like how he hasn't called or texted Kuroko since the tournament, how he wouldn't know what to say or how to begin, how he's afraid of blurting out something stupid or corny, how fondly and protectively Kagami looks at Kuroko.

 

He snorts. "You sound like Satsuki."

 

"She's right, you know."

 

"I know," Aomine admits, though he can't help the eye roll that comes with it. Kuroko smiles.

 

A few minutes later and Kuroko has somehow managed to extract a promise from Aomine to call sometime this week, even though they both know he's full of shit.

 

Another few minutes and they're guessing how much money exactly is in the offertory box and trying to goad each other into reaching in.

 

It's not perfect, but they're both laughing so Aomine counts it as a victory.

 

During a lull in their conversation Aomine looks around at the rain which is considerably lighter than before. He rather likes the phenomenon, surprisingly. Sure, when he was a child it was annoying since it meant he couldn't go out and toss balls around recklessly at the neighbourhood kids, but he remembers how Momoi had always liked it. He had asked her one day while they were out in their booties and raincoats.

 

"Why? Because it means the trees and flowers are coming back," she'd said matter-of-factly, and twirled her little pink umbrella for emphasis. "My mommy said that in the spring all the dead things from Winter come back to life. Re-new-al." She looked pleased at the new word she'd learned.

 

And if Aomine didn't think that was the dumbest and corniest thing he'd ever heard, he didn't know what was. He even splashed an extra big puddle at her to show it. (A bad idea since he forgot about her umbrella and was scolded by his mom later as he nursed his black eye.)

 

But her words had always kind of stuck with him.

 

He's about to point out a particularly unfortunate-looking fox statue when he notices that Kuroko's expression has changed and he's alarmed.

 

"What is it?"

 

Kuroko's expression is still vague, and he hasn't turned to look at Aomine, but he doesn't seem upset. "I was at this shrine at the beginning of the year."

 

"Is that bad?"

 

Kuroko shakes his head. "I was just remembering what I prayed for."

 

"Oh." Because Aomine is tactless, "What'd you pray for?"

 

"Seirin's victory." There's a twinkle in Kuroko's eye as he says it. Aomine frowns.

 

Aomine opens his mouth to retort, probably something about Kagami being something stupid only the gods could fix, but Kuroko continues.

 

"And something else."

 

Aomine waits patiently for him to continue and tries to squint at the distant spot he seems to be staring at, but fails to see anything.

 

"I prayed the next time I met you here... you'd be smiling." Kuroko looks up at him with a warm smile that's slowly blossoming and Aomine feels his heart stop.

 

"Fuck."

 

Aomine slips from where he's standing and smashes his head against the offering box. 

 

Even with the clinking of the prayers inside and the ringing in his head he can hear Kuroko laughing softly.

 

When his head stops ringing, there's a hand in front of him and a pair of mischievous blue eyes. Aomine takes his hand like a breath of fresh air and feeling light-headed asks,

 

"Do you wanna get some burgers with me?"

 

With a grip stronger than he remembers, "As long as you're buying."

 

"What kind of cheap date do you think I am?" He forgets to let go even when he's upright again.

 

"I didn't say anything, Aomine-kun."

 

And Aomine feels himself falling all over again, luckily Kuroko's grip is pretty strong.

 

As they walk out from the shrine, the rain softly falling around them, Aomine spots something colourful in the grass and pulls it out. He shoves it at Kuroko who takes it surprised, handful of dirt and all.

 

"I think the gods might mind." 

 

Aomine shrugs, "Whatever. It'll grow back. Season of renewal and shit."

 

"Season of renewal." Kuroko agrees with a laugh and it sounds a little like something new.


End file.
